Lebanese PM says premature to talk of any high-level meeting with Israel

BEIRUT, May 6 – Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said it is premature to talk of any high-level meeting between Lebanon and Israel, comments underlining the dim chances of one being held soon as hoped for by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Salam, in comments reported by Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) on Wednesday, said shoring up a ceasefire would be the basis for any new round of negotiations that might be held by Lebanese and Israeli government envoys in Washington.

Hostilities between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have continued to rage in southern Lebanon despite a U.S.-mediated ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel announced on April 16.

Since Hezbollah triggered the war by opening fire in support of Iran on March 2, the Lebanese administration led by Salam and President Joseph Aoun has initiated Beirut’s highest-level contacts with Israel in decades, reflecting deep divisions between the Shi’ite Muslim group and its Lebanese opponents.

Washington last month hosted two meetings between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States. Hezbollah strongly objects to the contacts.

Announcing a three-week extension of the ceasefire on April 23, Trump said he looked forward to hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Aoun in the near future, and that he saw “a great chance” the countries would reach a peace deal this year.

Salam said Lebanon was not seeking “normalization with Israel, but rather achieving peace”.

The current circumstances “are not ripe to talk about high-level meetings,” he added, according to NNA.

“Our minimum demand is a timetable for Israel’s withdrawal,” he said, adding that the government would develop its plan to restrict weapons to state control – an effort aimed at securing Hezbollah’s disarmament.

Aoun said this week the timing was not right for a meeting with Netanyahu. Lebanon “must first reach a security agreement and a halt to the Israeli attacks, before we raise the issue of a meeting between us,” he said.

TRADING BLOWS

Israel has carved out a self-declared security zone extending as deep as 10 km (6 miles) into southern Lebanon, saying it aims to protect northern Israel from Hezbollah militants embedded in civilian areas.

Hezbollah and Israel have continued to trade blows.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday an Israeli airstrike killed four people including two women and an elderly man in the town of Zelaya in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah had launched explosive drones and rockets towards Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon, injuring two Israeli soldiers.

It also said the Israeli air force intercepted a hostile aircraft before it crossed into Israel, and announced strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure in several areas in Lebanon.

More than 2,700 people have been killed in the war in Lebanon since March 2, the Health Ministry says.

The Israeli military says Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel since March 2. Israel has announced 17 soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon, along with two civilians in northern Israel. REUTERS